The present invention is related to disposable wiping articles, and more particularly to pre-moistened wipes suitable for use as baby wipes.
Pre-moistened cleansing wipes are well known, and are often referred to as wet wipes, towelettes, and the like. Pre-moistened wipes include a substrate, such as a nonwoven web, pre-moistened with a lotion. The lotion can be an aqueous lotion, and may include skin conditioning ingredients. One preferred lotion comprises polymeric emulsifiers, such as sodium acrylates, and silicon oil, such as dimethicone in an oil-in-water emulsion type formulation.
Lotions can also include one or more surface active materials (surfactants). The lotion can also include preservative and fragrance ingredients. In another format, wipes can be dry, and moistened by the user at the time of use. Therefore, although the present invention is believed to be most useful as a pre-moistened wipe suitable for use as a baby wipe, it may also find use as a dry wipe which the ultimate user may moisten as desired.
Pre-moistened wipes find use at home or away from home, especially with the cleansing of children and infants. For example, wipes are often used to clean an infant""s skin during a diaper change. As well, pre-moistened wipes find use among adults, often in conjunction with the use of incontinence articles. Other uses of pre-moistened wipes include general cleaning tasks where soap, cloths, and running water may be unavailable, unsuitable, or inconvenient for a particular task. In almost all instances, pre-moistened wipes are provided as folded, stacked, sheets of disposable wipes, each wipe meant for one-time use. Pre-moistened wipes are often referred to as disposable wet wipes.
Historically various types of nonwoven webs have been utilized for use as disposable wet wipes. The various types of nonwovens differ in visual and tactile properties, usually due to the particular production process used in their manufacture. In all cases, however, consumers of disposable wipes suitable for use as baby wipes demand softness and flexibility in addition to other functional attributes such as cleaning ability. Softness and flexibility can be correlated to certain measurable physical parameters, but perceived softness is often more subjective in nature, and consumers often react to visual and tactile properties in their assessment of wet wipes.
By way of example, The Procter and Gamble Co. of Cincinnati OH markets PAMPERS(copyright) Baby Fresh(trademark) wipes in North America, the nonwoven substrates of which are manufactured via an airlaid adhesive-bonded process that includes the imprinting of calendar-embossed designs that are permanent even when wet. The nonwoven web has a dry basis weight of about 63.6 grams per square meter (gsm) and a thickness when wet of about 0.61 mm. The embossed pattern provides a visually-pleasing effect which gives added consumer recognition and appeal. Moreover, consumers perceive certain embossed designs as imparting softness, which in some cases may be technically true. Consequently, PAMPERS(copyright) Baby Fresh(trademark) wipes have enjoyed significant commercial success in the United States.
In Europe, however, The Procter and Gamble Co. markets PAMPERS(copyright) Baby Fresh disposable wipes, the nonwoven substrates of which are manufactured via a spunlace process and are not embossed with any designs. The nonwoven web has a dry basis weight of about 60-62 gsm, and a thickness when wet of about 0.52 mm. Although there is no visual signal of softness such as embossed designs, the lack of thermal or chemical bonds in the spunlaced web results in very low elastic modulus and bending torque. The combination of low elastic modulus, low bending torque, and appropriate fiber choice give these wipes superior inherent softness. These disposable wipes have enjoyed significant commercial success in many parts of Europe, for example the United Kingdom.
It has been found, therefore, that when appropriate fibers are utilized, the spunlace process produces a relatively soft, flexible and strong nonwoven web suitable for use as disposable baby wipes. However, when embossed to provide additional aesthetic appeal, particularly to North American consumers, it has been found that the flexibility is unacceptably decreased (i.e., stiffness increases noticeably, such that consumers, especially in Europe, indicate disapproval). Rather than marketing two different products to the world""s consumers, it would be economically advantageous to find a common product that combines the visual aesthetic appeal of embossed wet wipes with the inherent softness of un-embossed spunlace-produced wet wipes.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a substrate suitable for use as a pre-moistened wipe that combines the visual aesthetic appeal of air-laid embossed wet wipes with the inherent softness of un-embossed spunlace-produced wet wipes.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a pre-moistened wipe that can be successfully marketed to consumers in both North America and Europe.
Further, it would be desirable to provide an embossed spunlace nonwoven web that exhibits permanent embossed patterns when wet, and which does not exhibit increased stiffness relative to the precursor (i.e., un-embossed) web.